Page 99 of False Start
My emotions were about as stable as a chair with two legs missing, and I fought against the urge to cry as I swung him up into my arms with a grunt.
“My goodness, what did you eat while I was away? I think you’ve grown two feet and gained twenty pounds!”
Sebastian giggled and buried his face in my neck, his arms wrapped around me. “You’re silly, Mommy.”
I kissed his hair, eyeing where Kyle was watching us. There were so many emotions sprawling across his face, but I couldn’t name a single one before he smiled and hid them all.
“Hi, Kyle!” Sebastian said, beaming at him.
“Hey, buddy. How was your weekend?”
“Good. Me and Nana went to the museum.”
“You did, huh?” Kyle bent to Sebastian’s level when I put him back on the ground. “Well, I bet that was pretty cool. Did you see dinosaurs?”
Sebastian nodded proudly. “Uh-huh. And there was a whole room of bugs!”
“Bugs! I bet there were spiders. I love spiders.”
Sebastian’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Youdo? They’re so scary!”
“Nah, just misunderstood. If we ever catch a spider inside together, I’ll show you how cool they are, and we can get it outside safely instead of killing it.”
Sebastian nodded emphatically, looking up at me as if to say, “Did you hear that? This guy likes spiders!”
“I brought you something,” Kyle said, and Sebastian and Ibothlooked at him in surprise and curiosity. I’d been with Kyle nearly the entire trip. When had he had time to get anything?
But he dug into his pocket and fished something out, holding it in his fist in front of Sebastian.
“Do you know what a meteorite is?”
Sebastian shook his head.
“Well, it’s debris from outer space.”
“Space?”
Kyle nodded. “Like a comet, asteroid or meteor. And there are some places in the world where meteorites have been found. Do you know where Argentina is?”
Sebastian shook his head again, hanging onto every word Kyle said.
Kyle pulled out his phone and clicked on the maps app, showing my son the large country.
“And right here, there’s been discoveries of what they callCampo del Cielo— a group of iron meteorites.” Kyle unfolded his hand then, revealing a small, lumpy object that looked like a cross between a rock and a heap of metal.
“Whoa!” Sebastian carefully took it from him, and then gaped even more, his eyes snapping up to Kyle. “It’s so heavy!”
“It is, isn’t it? There was a store in Denver run by two pretty amazing women who have the same love for rocks and gemstones that you do. They travel the world and collect them. When they told me about this one, I thought it would be perfect for your collection.”
Sebastian jumped up and down, his eyes on his new toy like it was the best present he’d ever been given. “Thank you, thank you!”
He wrapped Kyle in a hug so fierce it nearly knocked him over, and Kyle let out a laugh, hugging him back before standing.
My heart was in my throat, my eyes welling.
“Alright, time to get ready for bed,” I said through the emotion, smiling to keep the tears at bay. “Why don’t you gobrush your teeth and get into your jammies and Mommy will come tuck you in?”
“Can I sleep with my rock?!”
